Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

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Introduction

William Walton, in 1932 still a young rising star of British music, contributed a ‘free arrangement’ of Bach’s early chorale Herzlich tut mich verlangen BWV727. Walton’s freedoms are nothing like as radical as Vaughan Williams’s, but they include frequent changes of register—taking the left hand to the remotest end of the piano at one spot—octave doublings, and the addition of staccato markings to some phrases. (Walton would return to this piece in 1940 and orchestrate it as the fourth movement of his ballet The Wise Virgins, which is entirely made up of Bach arrangements.)

Recordings

'A magnificent addition to both the Bach repertoire and Angela Hewitt's artistically unparallelled survey of Bach's keyboard compositions' (Fanfare, USA)'A collection of rarities and oddities that makes for enjoyable listening. The quality of the Hyperion recording is excellent, with the right balance ...» More

Hyperion’s Bach piano transcription series has reached volume 7 with the complete transcriptions by Max Reger. Reger was described by his contemporaries as ‘the modern-day Bach’. His skills as a pianist were matched by his abilities as an organist ...» More

In 1931 the pianist and muse Harriet Cohen invited all her principal composer friends each to make an arrangement of a work by J S Bach for inclusion in an album to be published by Oxford University Press. Published as A Bach Book for Harriet Cohe ...» More

'This set marks a significant addition to the Christopher Herrick Bach archive and is a further manifestation of the happy collaboration between the a ...'Hugely rewarding playing of the highest order' (The Scotsman)» More

'Let me say without hesitation that Herrick’s performances are models of clarity, accuracy, precision and musicality … this is a complete Bach th ...'Herrick is one of the few organists who does justice to these difficult, elusive pieces … What a singular joy to hear the organ played with such ...» More

Details

One of the most beautiful chorale tunes is this transcription of Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV727 by William Walton (1902–1983). This must have been one of Bach’s favourite chorales as he used it five times in the St Matthew Passion (the numerological symbol for the Crucifixion), twice in the Christmas Oratorio, in two cantatas, and in this chorale prelude for organ. The melody by Leo Hassler (1601) has been set to many different texts, this one by Christoph Knoll (1605):

Walton finds a particularly good solution to the problem of transcribing the last two bars for piano. On the organ, the F sharp in the top voice is sustained throughout merely by holding down the note. On the piano, of course, it soon dies away. By repeating it in syncopation, he makes it last to the end, while at the same time clashing expressively with the E sharp in the bass. The slight detachment of the pedal part in the middle of the prelude follows Walton’s own marking.